


Fated meetings

by AngelaIsAWeeb



Category: HoloEN, Hololive, Virtual Streamer Animated Characters, holoMyth
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Death, F/F, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Kissing, Making Up, Nudity, Phoenix - Freeform, Plague, Romance, Slow Romance, Strangers to Lovers, Swearing, Temporary Amnesia, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:53:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28733004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelaIsAWeeb/pseuds/AngelaIsAWeeb
Summary: As a reaper, Calliope's job takes here all around the world to collect the souls of those who are dying.Walking through a battlefield, she notices that she still has one soul left to reap.
Relationships: Mori Calliope & Takanashi Kiara, Mori Calliope/Takanashi Kiara
Comments: 14
Kudos: 234





	1. An undying soul

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy! follow me on twitter if you want: @13MON4

The battlefield had a recognizable smell of blood and metal.   
It was a common sight for the reaper, it wasn't the first time she had come to places were humans enjoyed killing each other and it surely wouldn't be the last time.   
She walked through piles of corpses, looking for any more souls to reap and take back to her sensei; her eyes darted around and finally at the end of the barren land that had just been devastated, where a lake was located, she could feel a presence.   
With the scythe ready in her hand she calmly made her way towards the location.   
The lakeside was foggy so it was rather hard to see clearly, but she had an idea as to where the soul was; squinting her eyes she saw something poke out from all the fog: an arrow.   
'Probably a soldier that tried to escape, typical' was the first thought that passed her mind, but as she got closer her eyebrows rose in slight surprise.   
Laying on her stomach, pierced by not just one but two arrows, a girl with blue tinted orange hair: on of the arrows planted on her right shoulder and the other one on her back side, she was still breathing even if barely, blood soaked her clothes and what seemed like a sword and a shield laid on the ground beside her.   
Calliope had seen her fair share of warriors, but the girl on the ground didn't look like one even if she had weapons on her.   
She kneeled beside the ginger, her scythe currently resting on her shoulder; out of apparently nowhere she felt droplets of water hit her hand and looked up to see the gray sky.   
"U...gh..." A barely hearable whisper escaped the girl's lips.   
'I should hurry, the sooner I take her soul...the sooner she will stop feeling pain' she thought, getting back on her feet and grabbing her scythe with both of her hands.   
As usual she aimed for the heart, and after she struck the body...a burst of flames engulfed the figure laying down.   
Calli took a step back in surprise, wondering what the hell was going on; the rain picked up but it seemed like the fire only grew stronger. 

The reaper could still feel the soul's energy and confusion was written all over her face, after a few second the flames disappeared and only a big pile of ashes was left on the ground. 'Huh? Why can I still feel life...' Never once she had been in a situation like this and was unsure on how to act. 

'Maybe I should call sensei-' her idea was interrupted by the sight of a figure emerging from the ashes slowly: the same girl that only a minute ago was lying on the brink of death was now crawling away from the ashes, completely naked.   
The reaper was left baffled by what she had just witnessed. 

The girl coughed out some of the ashes and then opened her eyes: she was met with the sight of a beautiful woman dressed in a long black dress with pink colored hair.   
She raised an eyebrow in surprise and quietly spoke.   
"Who are you?"  
Calli frowned at the question. 

"Who am I? Who are you! I just saw you burn and come back to life!" She yelled, pointing a finger to the girl.   
"But I asked first..." Replied with a smug smirk the ginger.   
"Why you..." She inhaled and then exhaled.   
"Fine...I'm Calliope Mori, a reaper." Came the explanation.   
"I see...that's a beautiful name for a beautiful girl" flirted the girl.   
A blush made its way on the reaper's face.   
"OI, DON'T FUCK WITH-"  
"Anyway, nice to meet you! I'm Takanashi Kiara...and I'm a phoenix."   
'Phoenix? I thought it was just a legend that the humans made up' reflected the pink haired girl.   
"I was mistaken by some humans for an enemy from the other faction and they shot me..." That seemed like a decent explanation to how she ended up there.   
"I see..." Was the only comment Calli made. 

"Well thanks for ending my life, if I had to wait for my body to give out on its own I would've stayed like that for a while." murmured Kiara with a bright smile on her face. 

'Well that's new' the reaper never received a thanks from the souls she took, but that was because the dead cannot speak.   
"Yeah...sure..." Came the awkward reply from Calli as she scratched the back of her head. 

"Anyway...you're naked and it's raining..." As she spoke she removed her cloak and put it on the ginger's shoulder, covering her bare body.   
This time, Kiara was the one blushing: usually she would be alone when being reborn and didn't mind the nudity, but with a beautiful girl staring at her it sure made her embarrassed. 

"A-ah! Thanks...usually my clothes take a while to reform..." The only thing that had re-appeared where her shoes. 

"Don't make it awkward, kusotori."  
"K...kusotori?"  
"Yeah, you are like a flame bird right?"  
"Yes..."  
"And you can't die, which kinda annoys me since I'm supposed to take lives...so you're a kusotori. " explained the pink haired girl.   
"..." After a moment of silence, the ginger let out a stifled laugh, which caused an eyebrow raise from Calli.   
"Shit bird! what a silly nickname...You are funny, I like you!"

The reaper’s eye was now twitching in annoyance.  
“I was surprised though…usually a guy with a skeleton head came to end me, imagine my surprise when I saw you!”   
“Oh that’s my sensei, the grim reaper.” Described the pink haired girl in a bored tone.

Kiara nodded in understanding and a rather calming atmosphere filled the area, the only sound that could be heard was the rain falling onto them.

After a few minutes all of Kiara’s clothes re-appeared onto her body; she got up and stretched her limbs, her bones cracking here and there “Oh right…” remembered the bird, removing the cloak from her shoulders and handing it back to the reaper.

“Thanks a bunch!”  
“….” No reply came from Calli, who just simply put back on her dark cloak.

“Anyway, now that you are no longer naked I need to go…my job never stops.” Muttered the reaper with a sigh, turning her back to the bird.  
Kiara nodded in understanding, as Calli started walking away she cupped her hands over her mouth and yelled “Maybe one day we’ll meet again! I happen to die quite often hehe…”   
“I hope not, this was already bothersome enough…” was the first comment that came out of her lips, loud enough for the phoenix to hear it.

Kiara chuckled and waved goodbye to the girl.

Calli was now walking again onto the battlefield, crows were all over the bodies having a feast with the remains.  
She grabbed her scythe with both of her hands and prepared to head back to death sensei: she made her scythe rotate and cut through the air…a portal opening in front of where she stood.  
She entered the gateway towards the underworld and as she disappeared inside it, the portal closed behind her.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A throne stood at the end of a majestic and tall hall, decorations of various kinds all over but not making the space feel more full: roses, a few paintings, skulls laying here and there, a table with elegant foods and wine and tall but thin windows.

The sky (if you could call it that) was a dark grey color and no lights could be seen outside of the windows, but they inside was well lit thanks to a few chandeliers hanging from the roof.  
As Calli stepped out of the gate, she was greeted by the sight of her mentor sitting at the throne while drinking from a skull shaped wine glass.

“Ah, my pupil…I hope everything went well…” commented the skull-faced individual, leaving the glass onto the table in front of him and looking at the girl that was now walking towards him “I guess…” she went quiet for a second.

“Hey sensei…I…Met someone I couldn’t reap…” death stayed quiet and kept on listening, waiting for the explanation from his student.

“…A phoenix.”

The sensei nodded in understanding “Ah yes, Takanashi…I know her.” Commented the skeleton.  
“Eh? How long have you known her?” asked Calli.  
“Since she was born.” He continued.  
“And how come you didn’t tell me about this?” The pupil sounded irritated.  
“Because you were going to meet her sooner or later, and she could explain everything to you…” Calli knew her sensei was just really lazy.

“Don’t worry, she doesn’t stay here for long…it only takes her around a minute to be reborn.”   
She nodded at the skeleton, grabbing one of the wine glasses on the table and downing the whole thing down as fast as possible.  
“She kept you busy eh?” commented death, looking at the scene in slight amusement.

“You could say that…” her mind went back to the meeting with Kiara.

“Anyway, I need to go back to work…I feel more souls need to be taken care of.” She spoke putting back the wine glass onto the table; another portal opened behind her and she headed back towards it.  
As she was about to pass through it, she saluted her sensei…but her thoughts drifted again back to the phoenix.

‘So annoying…’ and with that, she was off once again.


	2. A bothersome phoenix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another place, another set of souls.  
> To Calli's displeasure, the phoenix appeared again while she was on the job...
> 
> How annoying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy! follow me on twitter if you want: @13MON4

In the few moments Calli wasn’t busy she would pass her time by reading, enjoying some fine wine or singing.

She didn’t have many hobbies but she also didn’t have much spare time to enjoy them so it balanced out decently for her; humming a random tune she had just thought of distracted her from her usual boredom.  
The melody came to a stop when she felt the presence of souls to reap.

It was time to head to work.

She opened the portal and after crossing it she glanced at the scene in front of her: she was standing on an isolated road in a beautiful forest where a carriage was laying on the bottom of a pit, the horses that were carrying it were still on the road but she could still feel 3 souls inside the carriage and one outside.  
With simple observations skill and sheer intuition, Calli immediately realized what had probably happened…accidents during travels were common in that era.

‘Probably the carriage got detached from the horses as it was taking the turn…’

She jumped down into the pit and looked at the person laying outside first, the man who was riding the carriage; after reaping his soul her eyes went towards the door of the vehicle. When she opened it, she saw a man, a woman and a young boy laying there and unmoving, covered in major and minor bruises; the man was holding both of the figures in a protective manner.  
Like usual, she held her scythe with both hands and took their souls without any trouble; she didn’t bother cleaning her weapon as she would be using it soon anyway.

As she exited and walked back towards the road, she got near the horses who still had part of the reins attached to them.

She looked at them and decided to remove the restraints they still had, which made the animals neigh in appreciation of the gesture.  
As much as she didn’t care for living creatures, she definitely preferred animals over humans: she gave one of the horses a nice pat to its nose which the horse gladly enjoyed…a small smile making its way onto her face.

“Aw what a sweet sight!”

Calli’s eyes widened for a split second and her smile disappeared with the same speed and as she turned her head and was greeted by a familiar face.

“What are you doing here kusotori?”   
How long had it been since they had met the first time? It was hard for the reaper to keep up with time since she herself was a being who could live eternally: 5 years? 50 years? Probably the latter.  
“I was heading to a town right outside of this forest, I was following the road but then I saw these horses and went to check…then I noticed you standing there, patting this horse.” She explained, walking closer to the reaper to pet the other animal.

“What about you? Are these yours?” she questioned pointing to the animals.

Calli didn’t like having conversations but she had the feeling the girl would bother her until she gave an answer.

“No these aren’t mine, I’m on duty.” She spoke with a bored tone.  
Kiara raised an eyebrow “You reap the souls of animals as well?” asked the phoenix again.  
“No, I had to take care of a few souls at the bottom of the pit beside the road.” She stated gesturing to her scythe, the curved blade covered in blood.

The bird grew curious and looked at the pit, her expression turning into one of sadness at the sight.

The reaper watched the scene with slight interest and smirked “You seem surprised” came the comment.  
“I’m not surprised…”  
“Then why are you sad?”  
“…” no reply.

Calli shook her head and rolled her eyes at the girl.  
She then felt another presence not too far from where she was, so after patting the horse she started walking away.  
Kiara turned around and noticed the reaper walking away “Hey! Wait for me!” she yelled as she quickly ran by the reaper’s side.  
“Why would I wait for you? And why are you following me?” asked the pink haired girl with clear annoyance in her tone.  
“Well you are heading in the same direction I was headed…so I thought we could have a chat while enjoying this nice walk!” replied the phoenix; Calli ran a hand through her hair and let out a big sigh.

“Listen kusotori, I don’t enjoy conversations so I’d prefer if you just kept quiet.” The bird tilted her head in surprise.  
“Eeeh? Don’t you get bored?”  
“I prefer being bored than getting bothered to death.” A small laugh got caught in Kiara’s throat at the involuntary pun.  
“But chatting is fun! I chat all the time with the humans, they have a lot of stories to share and-“ Calli zoned out a little from the one-sided conversation, but she was still able to pay enough attention to remember most of what she was hearing…she was used to it thanks to death sensei.

“-and sometimes I do meet some troubles with some of the humans, but it’s no big deal!” continued speaking the phoenix.  
“Mh…” a hum of understanding was the only sound the reaper emitted to show she was still listening, her eyes fixated on the road and on the forest.

Kiara noticed that the woman beside her was a bit distracted by her surrounding but she appreciated the fact that she was still listening to her rambles.  
As they kept walking (and ‘conversing’) they started hearing sounds of a bustling town.

“Oh look, We arrived!” exclaimed the ginger, running ahead.

It was a rather small village, a rural place like this never really had many people…which in a way made Calli feel better: the less humans around, the less she would be bothered.  
The reaper made her scythe disappear and calmly entered the town at snail’s pace, her eyes glancing around for the presence she had felt before, when suddenly she felt someone grab her arm.

“Come with me!” of course it was the phoenix.  
“What the hell kusotori! I’m on the job!” came the angry reply.  
“You can take it easy for once, come on! I’m hungryyy…” whined the ginger, her stomach growling rather loudly.  
“And why should I come with you?”  
“Because…” she was struggling to think of an excuse.  
“Because…I will pay…?”   
“…” 

Calli rolled her eyes and sighed from the silly attempt.  
“Fine…But only because I am a bit thirsty.” This brought a happy smile onto Kiara’s face.  
“Great!” and like that, she dragged away the reaper towards a tavern.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The girls were sitting down at a table, Calli looked at the wooden wall she was leaning her head on waiting for the phoenix to come back with their orders: A chicken soup and water for Kiara and a bottle of wine with a piece of bread for the reaper.

Calli could still feel the soul’s presence, waiting for her to come and end its existence.  
She wondered if she was going to get in trouble with death sensei for this, but she snapped back to reality when her line of vision caught sight of the ginger, holding their orders.  
“Sorry for the wait, it took a while for the waiter to find the oldest wine they had, which is apparently not that old…” explained the phoenix, putting the dusty bottle onto the table; Calli inspected the wine: only 63 years old.

Sighing, she removed the cork with a loud pop and began pouring it in a glass; if she were alone she would’ve not even bothered grabbing it.

She smelled the wine and then took a small sip to taste it: it could’ve been better but it could’ve been worse as well.   
She slowly began drinking the red liquor, stealing glances at the girl sitting in front of her that was currently blowing on her soup to cool it off: it seemed as the girl had no care in the world, like every day was special.

It bothered her.

“This is some tasty soup! Want some?” asked the bird, holding out a spoonful of the warm meal.  
“No thank you, I am good with my bread” as she said that, she took a bite off of her loaf of bread.  
“Aw come on! Just a tiny bit…” whined the ginger, making an exaggerated sad face that made the reaper even more angry.

“Fine.”   
Kiara expected her to grab the spoon and eat from it but she was definitely surprised when the pink haired girl grabbed her hand to bring the spoon closer and eat the food; it looked as her face was about to burst in flames from the blush spreading on her cheeks.  
Calli chewed on the food, surprised by the fact it actually tasted rather decent…but she would never admit it.

“Happy now?”   
Kiara was definitely happy, but for another reason.

The reaper managed to finish her wine before the phoenix could finish her soup and stood up “Mh? Where are you going?” asked the bird.  
“I still need to do my job…I already wasted enough time here and I don’t want to get into any kind of trouble.” Kiara nodded at the explanation “I suppose I did keep you away from your duties…thanks for joining me though!” Calli didn’t know why she was being thanked and to be honest she didn’t care that much.

“Sure…whatever.”  
Kiara smiled at the pink haired girl “Hope to see you again in the future!” was the last comment she heard from the phoenix.  
“God I hope not.” Was the last thing the ginger heard as the girl made her way outside, which caused her to laugh a little.

Calli had found the location of the soul, an old house at the side of the town.   
She entered it and walked towards the presence, which turned out to be an old woman lying on her bed with her eyes half-closed and all alone.  
She made her scythe appear again and with a swift movement, it was all over.

As she exited the house, her mind was invaded for a second by the image of the ginger that had dragged her to eat: she didn’t understand her or her actions and it seemed as the annoyance she was feeling whenever the phoenix was around was increasing with every encounter.

And yet…there was something more bothersome than the girl itself.

‘Whatever…I shouldn’t care’ she thought to herself opening another portal, already feeling the presence of more souls to reap somewhere in the world.  
Her hope was that the girl would stop bothering her if (by horrible chance) they would ever meet again…

…and maybe that feeling of bother in her chest would go away.

As she hummed another tune, she entered the portal…off to another place and to her usual and monotonous routine.


	3. Interesting conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plague had devastated most of the lands and that meant more work for Calli.  
> As she's left alone with her thoughts, it seems like someone keeps popping up wherever she goes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy! follow me on twitter if you want: @13MON4

Calli didn’t mind her job.  
It’s not like she hated it, but it wasn’t the best either sometimes.

Lately her work was keeping her busy 24/7 and the cause for this was the spread of a deadly disease that the human called ‘the plague’.  
This problem started because of the filth in the big cities, which brought rats and with that…the virus.

For 3 years the most of the towns were brimming with infected individuals: Calli was not even hiding her scythe anymore when she walked around the streets littered by dead bodies and horrible stenches; the humans now knew that when the lady with pink hair and armed with a scythe walked among them…it meant that someone else was about to die.  
Everyone feared her and everyone tried to hide away from her, but even if they tried to there was no escape.

‘Humans are so stupid…’ was something the reaper kept thinking every time she would see someone run away from her.

Her scythe was bloody and her clothes were dirty as well, which made her extremely irritated but unfortunately she couldn’t do anything about it…she was too busy to even think.  
She kept reaping the souls of those that were dying until dawn, the only survivors left in the town were the people who had managed to recover from the illness and became immune.

A tired sigh escaped her lips as she sat down on the stairs in the plaza.  
Closing her eyes she hoped that this whole situation would end as soon as possible, if this kept going she thought she was really going to die.

When her eyes opened again, she glanced around at the town: even if she thrived in death, the sight was rather…empty.  
It surely felt weird seeing something that was thriving with life disappear all of a sudden.

She never paid attention to those things, especially since she would always leave immediately after doing her job.

As she reflected, footsteps could be heard not far away from where she was sitting and as she took a look a sigh left her lips as an immediate reaction.  
“And here I hoped I would never see you again…” a few centuries had passed since she had last seen the phoenix.  
Kiara greeted her with a cheery smile and with a wave of her hand.  
“Calli! It’s good to see you again! It has been a while huh? Did you miss me??” the reaper definitely didn’t miss her loud voice.  
“What are you doing here kusotori?” Calli ignored the questions and looked at her while resting her chin on one of her hands as the phoenix sat down too close to her.  
“Well I travel a lot…”   
“You know what is going on in the world, right?”  
“I know but I’m a phoenix.” 

The pink haired girl looked away from the ginger, a tired expression on her face.

“You good?”  
“Just tired…”   
“Wait, death can get tired?”   
“Well yes, I have a human body…I need to eat and drink, I need to sleep…I can get injuries but they instantly heal and I can’t die.” Explained the reaper; she grabbed her scythe and made a cut on her arm which, as she said, disappeared as soon as it was made.

Kiara stared wide-eyed at the display, but she wasn’t too surprised by it.  
“I can guess why you are feeling like this…” murmured the ginger with a somber look on her face as she looked at some bodies lying on the ground.

“It has been a constant since the plague started, can’t do anything about it…but it doesn’t make it less annoying, or less tiring.” Replied the reaper, scratching the back of her neck.  
Kiara remained quiet, looking at Calli with a soft expression.  
“Does it make you sad?”  
“Mh?”  
“This situation…I know you see people dying everyday but…” she stopped talking for a second “this is on a whole different level, y’know?”

The reaper closed her eyes, leaning her head back “If I were to feel sad, it would mean I’m not suited for this job…empathy would just hinder my performance.” She spoke with an uncaring tone that made Kiara’s stomach churn.  
“You get used to seeing people dying, caring about humans is useless…they are all destined to die, no matter when or how.”

The phoenix understood what the girl was saying but she could feel a pang of sadness strike her heart.

“Don’t you feel lonely?”  
Calli’s eyes widened a little, why was kusotori asking her such a silly thing? She had her sensei and the family she would rarely see…but that was enough…right?  
“Have you ever interacted with humans outside of your job?” another question.  
“Well, not really…humans tend to avoid me.” She answered sincerely, why would a mortal want to meet death?

But that question made the reaper curious.  
“You mentioned hanging around humans, right? Why do you do it?” she asked looking directly into the ginger’s eyes with a questioning tone.  
“Because they fascinate me.” 

Calli went quiet at that answer.

“It’s true, humans are destined to die…but that means they have to make the most out of the little time they have, even something as silly as going to the market seems like an adventure!” The reaper could feel the enthusiasm coming from the other girl.

“Didn’t you say that sometimes you get into troubles with the humans?” inquired the pink haired girl with a look of interest on her face.  
“Well yeah…I am a phoenix after all, but usually I hide my true nature to them, sometimes I ended up being chased from them but I usually manage to escape them, and even if they do manage to catch me one day…they can’t really do anything to me since I can’t die!” she sounded confident but Calli wondered if it really was like that.

“I don’t know if you really care about what I’m saying, but…I believe humans are amazing creatures.” And as she said that she looked at the reaper with a cheerful smile.  
Calli began feeling that bothersome sensation in her heart again, she tried ignoring it but it was a hard task.

A calm silence filled the area Calli inhaled deeply, enjoying a moment of peace; even if the girl beside her was rather annoying she wasn’t stupid and the conversation they just had was actually rather interesting for the reaper.  
She still didn’t really see the point in caring for humans, but hearing the other girl talk about them made her wonder.

“It sucks that you can’t really be around them in normal situations…” commented Kiara with a sigh.  
“But I guess you are with them when it matters the most.” 

‘What did she mean by that?’ came the intrusive thought in Calli’s head.

Out of nowhere, the bird got up from her sitting position “I should get moving now…” she muttered stretching her arms into the air.  
“Mh? Where are you going?” Calli definitely didn’t ask that out of curiosity.  
Kiara smirked at the question knowing that the reaper was growing interested in her travels.  
“I’m heading to the ocean, I’ve never traveled on a boat ever before and I wanna see what’s so great about it!” 

Calli had been once on a boat, technically.  
Sure, it was sinking and she was dealing with the people drowning in the water, but she still counted it as ‘being on a boat’.

“I see…well I should get back to work as well.” Added the reaper, getting up from the stairs with a tired grunt.  
“Guess it’s time to say goodbye again huh?” spoke the phoenix turning around to stare deeply into the reaper’s eyes.  
“I guess so…” muttered the pink haired girl pushing some of her bangs behind her ear.

“Well then, see you again sometime!” Waved the ginger starting to walk away but still looking toward the reaper.   
Calli shook her head in resignation, it would probably happen anyway and she was starting to give up on the idea of not seeing her again since the girl kept popping up rather often.  
“Whatever, kusotori.” 

As the phoenix left to head to new places, Calli looked at her figure disappearing in the distance.  
She sighed for the last time that day and opened another portal.

As her mind kept going back to the conversation they just had…for the first time since meeting the bird, she didn’t mind it.  
The hint of a smile seemed to appear on the reaper’s lips, but she would deny that with all her will.


	4. Gratitude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The moon shines over a beautiful flowery field.
> 
> Between the flowers, Calli searched for another soul to reap in this unusual place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy! follow me on twitter if you want: @13MON4

Never once the reaper would’ve thought about where Kiara was.  
Usually after every meeting she had the tendency to forget about her and move on with her life up until when the phoenix would pop in front of her again.

Another century had passed since their last meeting and after all this time…Calli was still thinking about their conversation at that time.  
‘You are with them when it matters the most.’ For a hundred years the reaper kept thinking about what the ginger had meant when she said this, maybe she heard her wrong? No, she had heard her loud and clear.  
She couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard she thought about it.

She shook her head and mentally slapped herself: now it wasn’t the time to think about that…or about that person.

She had just passed through another portal and the first thing she could see was a flowery field and the night sky.  
‘A soul in a place like this?’ it was an unusual situation, typically she would appear in places like hospitals, battlefields, people’s homes…but this was surprise for the reaper.

The moon shined brightly onto the delicate flowers, making their colors more intense during the night.  
Unfortunately, the reaper couldn’t stay to admire the sight for long: there was a soul that needed to be taken care of.  
She walked through the field with her eyes darting in all directions to find the person that needed to be reaped; out of the corner of her vision she noticed something poke out of the flowers…a long and sturdy lance planted on the ground.

Calli walked towards the weapon and her eyes widened a little when she heard a gasp for hair…and then she saw her, the phoenix.

She was laying on her back, the lance planted in her stomach with a pool of blood under her and some coming out of her lips; her face pale and her teeth gritted in pain since she was still conscious.  
An unreadable expression adorned the reaper’s face as she now stood in front of the ginger.

“What happened to you?” she asked with a serious tone and loud enough for the girl to hear her.  
“C-Calli?” Kiara’s voice sounded breathy and faint.  
“Yes, it’s me kusotori…” replied the reaper, getting closer to the girl so she could see her from her lying position.  
A small smiled appeared on the ginger’s lips but it disappeared when she tried to rise her head and she felt an immeasurable amount of pain from her stomach. Calli didn’t look away from the gory scene, used to seeing far worse situations than this.

“You should stay put.”  
A short laugh escaped from Kiara and it made the reaper annoyed.  
“Why are you laughing? You’re currently impaled.”   
“I don’t really know honestly…” she was probably in a state of confusion “Apparently I irritated some humans with my presence…they left me here to die-”as she continued speaking a cough of blood interrupted her.

A pang of pain hit the reaper.  
‘Am I unwell? I was fine earlier…’ she wondered.

The phoenix was breathing heavily, face even paler than just a few moments ago; the reaper, in a sign of kindness, wiped some of the blood on Kiara’s mouth with her hand.  
The gesture caused the bird to smile with her eyes closed “This is a s-surprise…” Calli’s eyes looked away from the girl the moment that comment came out.  
“I’m just cleaning the mess you made…” it technically wasn’t a lie.

“It must be a bother…having to deal with me huh?” commented the phoenix with a breathless whisper.  
“You’re more bothersome when you are hyperactive.”   
Kiara appreciated the attempt of the reaper in trying to be comforting “You kinda suck at comforting people huh?”   
“Shut up kusotori.” For the first time, Calli showed a smile directed at the ginger.

Kiara’s heart skipped a beat at the sight: the reaper’s face was lightened up by the moon shining above them and the faint breeze made her pink hair dance in the air.  
With a lot of struggle, she managed to reach her hand towards Calli and gently ran her hand through her locks “Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?” 

The reaper blushed deeply at the comment and by the fact that the girl on the brink of death was acting this way.  
“Oi kusotori! What the he-“  
“I’m glad…”  
“Huh?”  
“I’m glad y-you came here to end my suffering…I know I’ll be reborn soon but…it never stops being scary.” Calli looked surprised at the revelation: a girl (a phoenix nonetheless) as cheery as her afraid of dying? That didn’t make a lot of sense to her.

“You are talking more like a human than an undying being, kusotori.” Commented the reaper without taking her eyes off the girl.  
Kiara’s hand dropped onto the ground tiredly, letting out a small chuckle “Maybe, but unlike them…I’m not afraid of you…e-even if I wasn’t a phoenix…I would never be afraid of you” Calli looked even more confused.

A pained sigh came out of Kiara’s lips, her eyes staring directly into Calli’s pink one’s.  
“I guess it’s time for me to die again…”  
The reaper nodded quietly, a knot in her throat was beginning to form: she couldn’t understand why and what she was feeling, why now? Why with Kusotori?  
She grabbed her scythe hovering it above her head, hesitation caught her unexpectedly as she didn’t immediately swing the weapon…but she had to do it.

With a clean swipe, she had concluded her job…but the pang in her chest after it was something unprecedented.

As the body caught to flames, she decided to stay and watch over it.

She didn’t know what was happening to her and why it was happening, but the more she reflected the more her mind would go back to the phoenix: a sudden worry began rising…and she wasn’t sure if it was worry for herself or for someone else.  
After a few minutes there was only a pile of ashes on the ground, the lance was still impaled into the ground.

‘You are with them when it matters the most...’ ‘it never stops being scary…’ now she understood what the girl meant centuries ago.

‘It must’ve hurt…’ she wondered, looking at all the blood that covered the blade.  
Calli removed the lance from where it was planted and threw it away, waiting for Kiara to come back to life like usual.  
She stared at the hand she had used to wipe the other girl’s blood ‘Bothersome huh…?’ she wondered with the faintest of smiles, all of a sudden, she saw a familiar figure appear from the ashes, her smile disappearing as her face went back to her usual serious expression.

“Mh…” the ginger got back on her feet not noticing the figure in front of her; she opened her eyes and when she saw Calli standing in front of her, she squeaked in embarrassment, trying to cover herself with her hands.  
“Relax kusotori, It’s not the first time seeing you naked…here.” And as the reaper spoke, she handed her drape to the phoenix that was currently redder than a rose.

A look of confusion was written all over Kiara’s face as she stared at the dark drape that she received, Calli raised an eyebrow at her.

“Mh? Something wrong?” Questioned the reaper, her scythe now resting on her shoulder.  
“Umh…” Kiara’s voice sounded insecure, even though she was still blushing.  
Calli stared at her, waiting for a reply.

“Who…are you?”


	5. Inseparable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It must have been a bad joke was what Calli thought, but the reality leaves her wondering if she really mattered to the phoenix at all...

Jokes are meant to be funny, right?

Calli remembered the few times her sensei had managed to make her laugh with some stupid skeleton puns, she had also heard occasionally some of the jokes the humans liked to tell and those always made the humans howl from laughter.

So why wasn’t she laughing now?

She stared at the phoenix and cracked a smile “Kusotori, I might suck at comforting people but you really suck at jokes.” She commented, leaving the girl to look even more confused than before.  
“J-Jokes?”  
“Yeah, this thing you are doing…asking me who I am as if we have never seen each other before!” explained the reaper getting closer to the ginger.  
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about…It’s the first time I’m seeing you.” Replied Kiara, the tone of her voice indicating that she might’ve not been lying.

Calli’s smile disappeared and a frown took its place.

“You can’t be serious, we’ve known each other’s for centuries! We were talking just a few moment’s ago before I reaped you and you caught to flames-“  
“H-how do you know I’m a phoenix?” questioned Kiara.  
“BECAUSE I KNOW YOU KUSOTORI! I AM THE ONE THAT CAME TO TAKE YOUR SOUL-!” Calli was now shouting, frustration and anger were hiding a sudden fear that she never experienced before.

She gritted her teeth, trying to contain herself.  
“The first time we met you immediately commented on my looks and ever since then you kept popping up in my life over and over again…talking to me even if I didn’t want anything to do with you, telling me stories…” she took in a shaky breath “You can’t possibly have forgotten about all of this!” 

Silence descended upon them as the wind now became a cold breeze that made Kiara shiver; the reaper looked at the girl and even if she was genuinely upset about this situation and wanted to vent her anger, the confused stare that the ginger made her restrain herself.  
‘She must be more confused than me…now she’s probably afraid of me with how I reacted…’ she thought, shame now making its way into Calli’s heart.

“…forget it.” In the reaper’s mind maybe this was the best course of action, she had always wished that Kiara would forget about her and stop bothering her.

‘But then why does it hurt so much?’

She shook her head and started walking away.  
This was for the best, she thought; ‘If she forgot about me it means I wasn’t important’ thinking that made the pain in her chest grow tenfold.

Kiara could only look at the beautiful figure of the woman she didn’t remember as she walked away...a sudden sadness rising in her heart together with her confusion; as the reaper opened another portal and disappeared from her sight…tears started streaming down her face and falling onto the drape that she had received from the reaper: looking at the piece of clothing, she held it close to her chest and wept onto it, not knowing the reason why.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Years had passed since that fateful day and as much as Calli wanted to forget about the girl who had forgotten her, she now couldn’t get rid of her memory.

It felt like a curse.

The longest she had spent not thinking about that girl was around a week and a half but unfortunately her mind kept drifting to her sooner or later.  
Even when she tried to keep herself busy with her job she’d get distracted by the words that Kiara told her about the humans and the pain in her chest would come back.

She found herself standing in another battlefield, it appeared a smaller conflict between two small regions took place by looking at the rather low amount of humans she had reaped.  
Houses were burning and the smell of fire and smoke filled the air during the night; suddenly she felt something drop onto her nose and as she looked up to see what it was, she noticed white flakes falling from the sky.

“Oh right, it’s winter already.” She commented, opening her hand to catch more flakes.  
The cold sensation on her palm made her smile a little, she kept staring at the snowflakes as they melted; glancing around to see if there were any more souls left to take care of and noticing that she had finished her job, she decided to stay there for a while longer.  
Sitting down on the ground as it began getting covered by a soft layer of white flakes, she stared at the snow falling down almost in a state of trance.

Her mind relaxed…the cold couldn’t hurt her in any way and, on the contrary, the sensation was quite pleasant for her.  
Once again, her mind drifted back to thinking about Kiara, even though she knew it would only make her hurt even more…she still felt angry about what had happened.

The phoenix had forgotten about her.

‘Why did she forget me?’ the same question kept coming but there was no answer.  
‘Did I really matter that little to her…?’ The reaper felt a lump in her throat, even if she hated thinking that, it made sense to her.

No one really got close to Calli.  
In the underworld she didn’t have any friends, only her family…and in the human world, humans feared her: Kiara was the only person that actually wanted to get closer to her.  
And when the reaper realized that…she also realized how lonely she had always been.  
It didn’t bother her at first: why being around other people? Being alone sounded like the best thing she could’ve wished for.  
But now something inside her had changed and it seemed like there was no solution to her problem.

She didn’t keep track of how much time had passed but looking at the pile of snow that had piled onto her head, it was probably for a solid 5 minutes.  
After removing the snow from herself, she decided that it was now time to get back to her job; as she stood up her ears picked up a sound.  
‘Are the humans planning another attack at this place?’ she wondered; turning around she could not see clearly because of the snow but from what she was hearing it was probably just one human.  
She prepared her scythe just in case someone would think she was an enemy but as the noise of footsteps grew closer…the more Calli’s vision could make out of the person.

Her eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat when she saw those unmistakable orange tinted hair.

As the phoenix stepped closer, she too noticed the pink haired girl holding the weapon and the surprised (or rather shocked) expression on her face.  
Calli slowly lowered the scythe and looked away from the girl she didn’t want to admit she missed, anger bubbling up together with sadness.  
Thinking about leaving the reaper was about to turn around, but before she could even take a step she was tackled to the ground.

“What the-!”  
“CALLI!” Kiara was the one guilty for that action as she was now clinging onto the other girl, calling her name.  
The pink haired girl didn’t have the time to process what had just happened, but hearing the ginger say her name again made the pain in her chest feel slightly better.

“CALLI, I’VE BEEN LOOKING EVERYWHERE FOR YOU!” the phoenix spoke as tears dripped down her face. Calli looked at her without speaking a word.  
Kiara was trying to speak through her sobs but unfortunately the reaper couldn’t figure out anything of what she was babbling about, not only because of the tears…but because the ginger was doing that onto her chest.

“KUSOTORI!” Kiara’s attention was immediately onto the other girl and she stopped talking, staring into Calli’s pink eyes.  
“First of all, calm down…second of all, explain yourself.” The tone of her voice sounded reassuring but it showed that the reaper was feeling angry and confused.  
The bird took in a shaky breath while still crying “I…I-I forgot about you…” Calli didn’t really need that reminder “I-It happens every time I die…I end up forgetting all of my memories for a while…” as she continued her explanation, the reaper’s eyes softened a little.

“Usually it doesn’t last for long, maybe a few months at worst…w-when my memories got back I realized what had happened…b-but you had already left, and it’s all…all my fault.” She sobbed even harder after she stopped speaking, hugging the other girl.

A trembling sigh escaped the reaper’s lips: all of her anger had dissipated and the sadness that hadn’t left for years was now replaced by gladness.

She hugged the girl close as her heart started beating at a rapid pace, as if to say ‘it’s all right’; the two stayed like that on the snowy ground for what felt like an eternity. Kiara’s cries finally stopped and she lifted her head up to look again at the beautiful girl in front of her.

“I…I am the one that should apologize…” finally spoke the reaper, leaving the phoenix with a confused expression.  
“I believed you didn’t care about me…and I left you all alone.” For the first time in her whole existence, Calli started crying softly which left Kiara surprised.  
“I could’ve made you remember, I could’ve tried becoming closer to you again…but I didn’t.” the reaper continued as she closed her eyes, warm tears descended onto her cheeks.

“I’m sorry…if there’s anything I could do make it up to you just ask.”

A smile appeared onto Kiara’s lips.  
“How about a kiss?” she asked in a teasing tone, causing a giant blush to appear onto Calli’s face.  
The phoenix laughed at the reaction “I’m joking, I’m j-“ suddenly, a pair of lips interrupted her and she stared wide eyed at the pink haired girl.

It lasted only for a brief second, but it was the best second in Kiara’s life.

Calli reluctantly removed her lips from the other girl’s ones, looking away shyly “There.”  
A dreamy look was planted onto the ginger’s face that made the reaper regret (but only a little) giving in to the request.  
“Hey Calli.”  
The reaper turned her face and, promptly, Kiara’s hand cupped her cheek and brought their lips close together again…and Calli didn’t mind.

1…2…5….16 kisses were exchanged.

Even if they kissed a million times it still wouldn’t be enough for them.  
After a while they had to stop to breath, and as they did that a smile made its way onto both of their faces; the tears had now dried up and a calming silence filled the frigid air.

“We uh…we should probably get up.” Spoke again the phoenix, noticing the snow that had accumulated onto them.  
The reaper nodded quietly with her blush still present.

As they stood up and cleaned themselves, Calli began feeling the presence of another soul and looked at the phoenix with a sad smile.  
“I need to go kusotori…I can’t leave those souls alone.” Came the mumble.  
Kiara nodded with a bright smile “It’s ok, we’ll meet again soon anyway, right?” 

“Yeah…you’re right.”  
Destiny could never keep them apart for long, because they would always find a way towards each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I had lots of fun with this story...next up there might be a smut (if you want you can leave a suggestion!)  
> If you want follow me on twitter: @13MON4


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